All contact with an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle was lost while it was flying south of DPR-controlled Sontseve (59km north-east of Mariupol), the SMM reported

VIENNA, September 1 /TASS/. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) abruptly lost all contact with an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Tuesday, the SMM wrote in its daily report on the situation in Ukraine published on September 1.

"At 10:13hrs, while flying south of DPR-controlled Sontseve (59km north-east of Mariupol), all contact with an SMM unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was abruptly lost. The contact with the UAV was not restored by 13:45hrs, by which time the UAV must have run out of fuel. At this point, following the procedures, the aircraft was declared lost," the SMM reported.

"An SMM patrol went to the last known location over which the UAV was flying on a field 1.5km south of the village, where the SMM was stopped by two armed DPR members, who denied the SMM further access to the area. However, when looking towards the probable crash area, the SMM could observe burned patches on the ground," the SMM report said.